She Wore Mourning by P.D. Workman (best desktop ebook reader .txt) 📕

“They did go over to the shopping center.” Zachary picked up his phone and held it so that Joshua could no longer see the screen. “You won’t ask how I know, right?”

“No. You tell me where they are and I’ll send someone over there to have a word.”

Zachary looked down at the map to make sure they were still at the shopping center, looking at shoes or lip gloss. But the pin had moved in the time that it had taken him to get to the police station and to make his report. He swore and looked at Joshua, feeling sick.

“Motel.”

Joshua echoed his sentiment. He clicked on a handheld radio and started giving directions. When he paused for the name and address of the motel, Zachary turned the phone around for him to see.

“I’ll get a picture of the two of them to your phone,” Joshua told the officer who had answered his call.

He looked at Zachary after clicking off. “Email all the pictures to me,” he instructed. He gave the duty officer email address, and Zachary got to work on it.

“I’ll have to batch them; it won’t send that many at once. And there are two videos.”

“Great. Get me the best facial pictures first so that I can distribute them, and then send me the rest.”

Zachary nodded.

Joshua was going through the forms under his counter, rattling papers. “I’ll need to get your signed statement on what went on over at the bar. Did you get any other names? The manager’s?”

“No… some guy dressed as a cowboy.”

“Don’t they all dress as cowboys over there?”

“I imagine so.”

Joshua rolled his eyes. “Then that’s not exactly helpful, is it? I’ll send some officers over there to find out what they can before anyone finishes their shifts.”

He shoved a stack of forms at Zachary. “If you want to move down the counter here while you fill those out, I’d better deal with some of these people waiting behind you. Okay?”

Zachary did as he was told, filling the forms out in his neatest printing, trying to make sure that he got all the pertinent details. It took a good length of time to go through all of them. He sidled closer to Joshua as he finished up with another citizen.

“Done?”

“Here you go.”

“Everything signed?” Joshua thumbed through them to make sure that Zachary had signed in all of the appropriate places. He picked up his radio again and made an inquiry. Zachary couldn’t make out the staticky response and code talk and waited for Joshua to fill him in.

“They got her,” Joshua said with a satisfied nod. “The two of them together in the hotel room, just getting friendly.”

Zachary sighed. Things didn’t usually move so quickly. He felt like he had run a race when all he’d done was stand at the counter.

“And she is one of the students at Montgomery’s school,” Joshua informed him.

“I can’t believe it. How did she think she was going to get away with it?”

“In my experience, we never catch them the first time. They’ve always gotten away with it before. Sometimes dozens of times. Predators don’t just hunt once.”

“Well… thank you for getting right on it. I feel like I did something good today.”

Joshua offered a handshake, and they clasped tightly. “You did do something good today. That girl’s parents are going to be indebted to you.” He released Zachary’s hand. “Who was your client? Montgomery’s husband?”

“I can’t discuss private client matters with you… but that would be a good guess.”

“Take care, my friend. You should sleep well tonight. The sleep of the just.”

Zachary could only wish.

His eyes were puffy and bloodshot in the morning, and it wasn’t because of a couple of beers with Kenzie. Far from being able to sleep soundly because he had done something good, Zachary hadn’t even been able to lie down to try to sleep. He was too wired. His head whirled with anxiety over how many other students Montgomery had preyed upon, what he was going to tell Mr. Montgomery about his wife’s activities, and how he was going to explain going to the police with the information.

But he’d had to. He couldn’t stand by while a minor was in danger. He might not be a mandatory reporter, but he couldn’t ignore it and leave it up to the client, who might be too embarrassed to do anything.

In the small hours of the morning, he had gone through as much of his busy work as he could, preparing final reports and invoices, finalizing the Senatorial background checks, and for a while just browsing through the various Facebook accounts he was keeping track of. Socially acceptable cyberstalking.

He was just trying to rev his engine with a second cup of coffee when the phone rang. Looking at the screen, Zachary saw that it was Isabella. The idea that she would have any reason to call him made him feel unaccountably worried. She hadn’t exactly approved of Molly hiring him in the first place. She had answered questions but hadn’t been particularly cooperative. Had something happened? Maybe to Molly or Spencer? He was pretty sure she wouldn’t be calling him to tell him she had remembered something new from Declan’s last day. Or maybe that she’d found the box of cold pills so he could see what their active ingredients were.

Zachary swallowed hard and answered the call. “Goldman Investigations.”

“Is this Zachary?”

“Yes. Isabella. Hi. What can I help you with?”

“It’s nothing, really. Nothing that will be of any help to your case. I just thought… I wanted someone to share it with.”

Zachary breathed slowly and evenly, wishing it would calm the wild pounding of his heart.

“Sure. What is it?”

“Mittens. He came back.”

“What?” Zachary couldn’t find the words.

“Mittens. My cat. Remember I told you about him? Well, the cat came back.”

“Your cat… that disappeared eight years ago.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“He came back.”

“Yes.” She sounded pleased; happy and relaxed like she hadn’t ever sounded before. “The cat came back.”

“Are